30LEGEND

THE PHOENIX:
FELICE GIMONDI

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the legend
gimondi

Italian champions have always had a larger-than-life appeal. Their other-worldly achievements on the bike were
grounded in working-class upbringings and tinged with a
hint of sadness and mortality. Fausto Coppi’s flame burned
bright after escaping the butcher’s shop to win multiple Tours
de France, Giros, the world championship and classics. The
flame sputtered at the end of his career, losing his brother to
a bicycle crash and suffering personal scandal before dying of
malaria at the age of 40. Gino Bartali grew up among a family
of subsistence farmers before finding the bike and becoming
the greatest champion of the pre-World War II era. As a young
man during the war he smuggled false papers in his bicycle
frame to help Italian Jews, and died, without fortune, in 2000.
These stories of poverty, success, nationalism and loss serve to
sear the memory of these men in the tifosi’s consciousness. What
must these men have actually been like, to chat with about
life, racing and their amazing careers? There is another great
Italian champion of the stature of Coppi or Bartali, a man still
enlivened with cycling, still able to talk about his amazing wins
and storied career. Felice Gimondi.

Italiano got the opportunity to chat with Felice Gimondiabout his career, about racing the great Eddy Mercxk andhow the racing bicycle has developed into the machine it istoday. While the stories were incredible, the thing that stuckwith us was a simple gesture Felice made when he said theword, scattante which in Italian means nervous, lively andeven to lose one’s temper. When he talked about how a bikeresponded under power he would say scattante and then makea fist in front of his chest, pumping it in and out. In Americawe may know the gesture as a fairly crass way of suggestinglovemaking. It was some how fitting that this Italian cyclinglegend, who first rode a bicycle with his mother on herpostal route, describes the bicycle and riding it well as atype of lovemaking—done with passion and intensity. “ThePhoenix” did after all win all three Grand Tours, the worldchampionship, Paris Roubaix, Milano-San Remo—andmuch of it against “the Cannibal” himself, Eddy Merckx.

How did you first reach the professional cycling ranks? My story
began almost 50 years ago, the first time I came in contact with
Bianchi at the world championship at Salo in 1963. I was there
with a small amateur team and at the finish I was approached
by Pinello de Grandi, who was, at the time, the team manager
for Fausto Coppi. He said to me, ‘Today I saw you, you rode
well … would you like to come ride for Bianchi?’

Did it mean something extra that your opportunity came
with the legendary Bianchi team? It’s obvious that for a
young guy who came from a small town in the country
to hear that I could ride the same bike as Coppi was the
biggest compliment I could have. It happened so quickly
that the Monday immediately after the worlds I was at
the Bianchi factory in Milan picking up my first bike.

Did you find success right away as a professional? In 1964,I won six races, including the Tour de l’Avenir. In 1965, Iwon the Tour de France. In 1966, I won Paris-Roubaix,Paris-Brussels and the Tour of Lombardy. In 1968, theVuelta a España and the Tour of Romandia, and like thisit continued with three wins in the Giro d’Italia, the lastof which was in 1976 when I was already considered ‘a bitold’ in the peloton. The last important race of my careerwas Paris-Brussels, 311 km, which I won in 1977, 12 yearsafter my victory in the Tour de France. Not an easy feat!

What was it like racing against, and sometimes beating, the
great Eddy Merckx? My biggest adversary was Eddy. He was
hard to compete against because he was strong everywhere;
he was a better sprinter than me and he could attack harder
and change rhythm better. I had to keep my eyes on him for
sometimes 200 km. My most memorable result against Eddy
was the world championships in Barcelona where I won ahead
of Maartens, Ocana and Merckx. It’s a memory that has a
particular meaning to me. I think about the moment when I
arrived ahead of everyone [Gimondi raises his arms and smiles].

How have bikes changed from your day to what the pros ride
today? First of all we raced on steel. The bikes had a longer
rear end because many of our races were still on gravel. And
then we started to shorten the rear end to make a bike that
was more nervous and alive [there’s that gesture]. In time
we’ve arrived at bikes that responded to the courses, the
distances and the racers of today. Now bikes are as short as
possible because you race shorter distances, there is no gravel
and the pace is always high and nervous [the gesture again].
So we continue to adapt, not just yearly but day by day. •

(Photo from Pillars of Italian Cycling filmed and directed by Michael
Crook for Move Press www.pelotonpresents.com)